[Public-List] Second race of year for SURPRISE

[Gordon Laco]

Thanks Michael - we certainly could have used the new main in the heavy air
race you joined us for!

Gord



> Well done Gord, BRAVO!!
> 
> Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote:  Well, as an antidote to J's race -
> here is a brief on ours...
> 
> Also due to a pile of business travel this spring, last night was SURPRISE's
> second race of the year. Our performance with the new mainsail was again
> startlingly good.
> 
> Air was 5-8 knots west softening as usual. We started in the usual cloud of
> vermin (er Sharks, sorry) all of whom could point significantly higher than
> us but for once were able to power out into safety. I watched the pair
> below us nervously for some time but luckily they were preoccupied
> tormenting each other and didn't press up under us. They could easily have
> forced us to tack onto port which would have left us dodging under the
> sterns of the rest of the fleet.
> 
> We reached the weather mark fourth and popped the spinnaker and ran back
> down the course gybing once. The second beat was just like the first... We
> took pains to keep away from luffing matches and relied on boatspeed rather
> than pointing ability (which we don't have!) had a few bad moments on the
> last leg in to the mark when we were headed badly but the usual torso
> twisting and grunting did the trick and we made it up to it with a few feet
> to spare.
> 
> Coming around the mark I realized we were still way up in our fleet...and
> nobody from the larger boats in A fleet who started five minutes behind us,
> was anywhere near yet. I started getting excited but was firmly told by my
> crew that there was a lot of race left and I should shut up and drive.
> 
> We did one gybe on the last leg - the lads (my son Pete and his friend
> Duncan) did it so perfectly that the image was the chute never moved, the
> boat rotated under it. We over-took one boat and glided over the line...
> The first A fleet boat was just under five minutes behind us. He was the
> only one who would have beaten us if we had started with them.
> 
> Woke up this morning still glowing with satisfaction.
> 
> What a difference that new main has made!
> 
> Now, if only we had some A30's to race against up here....
> 
> Gord
> #426 Surprise
> 
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